The present disclosure relates to extruded films, particularly those incorporating native starches.
The direct use of starch into plastic films is of high economic value due to the low cost, renewability, and abundance of starch. Multi-step compounding, however, is typically required to convert starch into useful thermoplastic materials, and this adds processing costs to material that would otherwise be a good value. One major technical challenge was successfully overcome with the development of novel one-step processing of compatibilized films including polyethylene (PE), thermoplastic starch (TPS), and a biodegradable copolyester polymer. Although a technical solution, these films are not economically feasible due to the expensive nature of the biodegradable component required to produce a compatible system: the biodegradable copolyester polymer resin.